A simple home practice

LOOKING FOR CALM
The kiddies are all back to school and so far so good! I have learnt from previous years that I am inclined to turn 'headless chicken' in September, and have planned and prepped to within an inch of my life! Without consciously choosing to, I’m also finding myself shifting towards calming and supportive poses in my yoga practice – such as forward folding poses. Forward folds don’t come naturally to me, they challenge my ego and patience, but they are deeply therapeutic and soothing, and my intuition brings me to them when I need them. I’m also finding comfort in familiarity by spending extra time in some of the basic poses of yoga. When the world around you is spinning fast, it feels lovely to do the complete opposite on your mat and simplify your practice to its utmost essence.

FIND YOUR HAPPY POSE
This sequence focuses on keeping it simple and playing around with as many of the familiar poses of yoga as possible. When you encounter a pose that feels perfect to you, either in finding your strength or finding ease, pause for some extra breaths and enjoy the sensations that arise. Scan through your body from your toes to the tips of your crown and look for feedback.

EXPLORING SIMPLICITY IN YOUR PRACTICE
Notice the effects different types of movements have on you. When you flow you will notice a calming, meditative trance, as you link movement with breath. In deep stretching poses you will feel a calm introspective quietning of the mind. Alternatively the more muscular strengthening poses will bring you into the body, and the present moment, with nowhere to hide! In order to feel the cumulative benefits of this sequence, and get a sense of serenity in familiarity, practice this same sequence for 2-3 weeks. If practicing everyday is daunting for you, start with aiming for a 2-3 days a week, for 10-15 mins, and let it naturally build it up from there.

ALIGNMENT CUES
Adho Mukha Svanasana/Downward Dogs is probably one of the more widely known yoga poses. But we often use it as a transition and not give it enough time to explore. Relook at how you approach your Adho Mukha Svanasana/Downward Dogs and see is it one, or can it become one, of your familiar comforting poses.

The following are some alignment cues that you might hear in class. Print them out, along with the sequence, and play around with what makes sense to you:

• Hands shoulder width apart, feet hip width apart, press into all five knuckles of your hands and lightly though the pads of your fingers, fingers spread.

• Roll your biceps forward, broaden the collarbones, back of the neck long, firm your shoulder blades against your back, head in line with your ears.

• Pelvis tips forward, lift your sit bones up, stretch your heels towards the ground, draw your hips up and back.

• Top of the thighs pressing back, roll your inner thighs back. Hug your outer hips to the midline, gaze to the ground under your pelvis.

• Draw your navel towards your spine to support the internal organs.

• Look for symmetry of the whole body between right and left side joining at the midline.

To save the images for personal use click and hold down the image until the ‘save image’ option appears; on Mac hold down ‘control’ and click the image to get the option box; on PC right click on the image to get the option box. Scroll down in the ‘option box’ and click ‘save image’.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Staying present

IN THE HERE AND NOW
Staying present is a topic we're all very familiar with. Being present in this very moment, in this minute, in this hour, in this day, in this week, in this month, and even in this season, can often be the most challenging aspect to yoga, meditation and life! As the summer draws to an end I feel myself drifting into anxious anticipation of September mayhem. I’m finding it hard to stay in the here and now and appreciate the last few weeks of warmer weather and longer days.

EXPLORING STAYING PRESENT IN YOUR PRACTICE
In our time on the mat we are faced with the same challenge of staying present and not getting lost in endless ‘to do’ lists. Through our practice we can take up this challenge and cultivate a presence that will help us off the mat too. Staying close to the breath is the ultimate tool for finding the here and now. There is no future or past breath – just the present breath. By linking the breath with movement, in a series of mini flows, this sequence brings you close to your breath. You’ll also notice you become very present in your practice when you pause in some of the poses that challenge you – standing poses that activate the large muscles of the legs, or seated poses which test your patience for your perceived level of flexibility. Take a few extra breaths in your not so favourite pose and see where your mind is. Loosen your attachment to what you think the external pose 'should' look like and concentrate on lengthening out your breath, pause, and find small shifts in your relationship to these poses.

SAVASANA ALIGNMENT CUES
Successfully staying present on your mat is a much more intense practice – physically and mentally. Reward yourself with a nice long Savasana and run through some of these alignment cues as you relax:

• In Savasana place your hands under your lower back and slice your buttocks flesh away from you to soften into the lower back.

• Melt your shoulders away to the floor and tuck your chin slightly to lengthen the back of the neck.

• Release any tension in your jaw, part your lips part slightly and let your eyeballs become heavy into the back of your head.

• Imagine skin on your forehead becoming as smooth as silk and the space between you temples become broad and spacious.

• As the back of your head become heavy into the ground, let your whole body become heavy and supported between the ground underneath you and gravity.

To save the images for personal use click and hold down the image until the ‘save image’ option appears; on Mac hold down ‘control’ and click the image to get the option box; on PC right click on the image to get the option box. Scroll down in the ‘option box’ and click ‘save image’.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

Lengthen then twist

SUMMER CLEANSE
Holiday are all about tasting regional specialities and immersing yourself in the local culture. This may mean that you are sampling foods that are not usually part of your diet. I sometimes find that on my return it takes a few weeks to reclimitise to my regular home routine. This year, with a touch of post travel tiredness and headaches, I embarked on a mini cleanse to reboot my system and reinvigorate my savoury gut microbiome. I practices my Gutsy Flow everyday and followed the Rich Roll cleanse for five days – which included 100% veg smoothies, mushroom broths, chlorella and lots of water. After the cleanse I noticed a spectacular increase in my energy levels, clarity of mind and fluidity of movement. I was bouncing out of bed at 5:30am to teach my morning class and was still awake at 9:30pm which is very unheard of! The cleanse encourages you to write notes on each day of your cleanse. My day five note to self was:

GOOD FOOD = ENERGY = HAPPINESS   

TWISTS
Twists wring out the digestive system and massage the digestive tract. In yoga we twist to the right first to stimulate the ascending colon first, and we twist to the left after to stimulate the descending colon – aiding regular elimination and toxin removal from the body. Similar to backbends, when we twists we constrict the blood flow, and on releasing a surge of blood rushes back – bringing with it a fresh supply of oxygen and flushes out the system. Click this link to get a full list of twists.

FIND LENGTH FIRST
This sequence takes a step back from twists and looks at what you can do before you twist to maximise the rotation in the spine. When you twist a piece of cord you’ll notice that the more you twist it the shorter the cord gets. The same thing happens in the spine as you twist. You may reach an end point where you hit vertebrae to vertebrae before you reach the limitation of your muscle stretch. Lengthening up the spine through side bends first, and lifting the torso up out of the deep pelvic bowl, helps to find extra space between the vertebrae before you take your twist.

EXPLORING LENGTHENING THEN TWISTING
After you take your side bend make sure you come back to centre first before you move into the twist. When you are in a twist play around with placing the hand of the side you are twisting to on the small of your back and feeling for the position of your pelvis. Can you keep the hips squared forward to the front of the mat rather than following the rotation of the twist. See can you sense if both hips are level to each other too. The hip on the side you are twisting to can sometimes lift up which shortens the side of the waist and limits your twist.

ALIGNMENT CUES
Print out this sequence and explore the difference taking a side bend first can make to your twisting practice:

• In Utkatasana/Chair Pose check to see are the knees in line with each other or has the twisting side knee drifted back.

• In Anjaneyasana/Low Lunge & Ashta Chandrasana/Eight Crescent Moon notice how much harder it is to twist without the aid of something to press against.

• Parivrtta Trikonasana/Revolved Triangle is a very deep twist for the spine. Place your hand on your lower back and check to see is the top of the pelvis level and both left and right sides are in line with each other. Use a brick on the high level to help you keep the pelvis level and stable.

• If Balasana/Crow Pose is not part of your practice take the preparatory stage and you’ll get a lovely twist through the spine without having to master the full arm balance.

Remember to drink plenty of water after a twisting sequence to help the system flush out all the toxins from the organs.

To save the images for personal use click and hold down the image until the ‘save image’ option appears; on Mac hold down ‘control’ and click the image to get the option box; on PC right click on the image to get the option box. Scroll down in the ‘option box’ and click ‘save image’.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru